TODAY IN BUSINESS; Today in Business

By BLOOMBERG NEWS

Published: April 19, 2008

PROFIT UP AT HONEYWELL Honeywell International, the world's largest maker of airplane controls, posted a 22 percent gain in first-quarter earnings on Friday, beating analyst estimates, and said annual profit would be at the high end of its earlier range.

Net income climbed to $643 million, or 85 cents a share, from $526 million, or 66 cents, a year earlier, the company, based in Morris Township, N.J., said. Sales rose 11 percent, to $8.9 billion, with two-thirds of the increase coming from outside the United States. (BLOOMBERG NEWS)

SCHLUMBERGER MISSES MARK Schlumberger, the world's largest oil field services company, reported a nearly 14 percent rise in first-quarter income Friday, but results missed Wall Street forecasts and were seen as largely lackluster.

Still, the company predicted growth for the remainder of the year as long as the global economy avoids a severe recession. The Houston-based company said income in the January-March period was $1.34 billion, or $1.09 a share, versus $1.18 billion, or 96 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding discontinued operations, earnings amounted to $1.06 a share. Revenue rose to $6.29 billion from $5.46 billion. (AP) MORE INTEREST IN EXPRO The American oil field services company Halliburton said on Friday that it was considering a counterbid for the Expro International Group of Britain. Any offer would be in cash, it said, and at a premium to that made by the private equity firm Candover and Goldman Sachs.

Expro, which is also an oil services company, has agreed to a bid of £1.61 billion ($3.2 billion) from funds managed by Candover and Goldman Sachs. (REUTERS)

BID FOR INSURER WITHDRAWN The American buyout group J. C. Flowers has formally withdrawn its £3.5 billion ($7 billion) pursuit of the British life insurer Friends Provident, leaving the company to press ahead alone with a planned overhaul and asset sales.

The private equity group, which owns 2.7 percent of Friends, had been widely expected to pull out on Friday, having failed to bring Friends' management to the negotiating table. (REUTERS)WENDY'S REJECTS 2 OFFERS Trian Partners, an investment company controlled by the billionaire Nelson Peltz, said in a regulatory filing Friday that Wendy's International had rejected two offers to be purchased, prompting it to seek a special shareholder meeting.

Peter May, president of Trian, said it learned Thursday that Wendy's had rejected two offers: One a combination of Wendy's and Arby's, which Mr. Peltz owns through another company, and the other a cash offer of more than $900 million and stock. In its own regulatory filing Friday, Wendy's said it rejected both offers as inadequate. (AP) NO RAISE AT AMAZON.COM Despite a blockbuster year in which Amazon.com's profit more than doubled, compensation for its chief executive officer, Jeffrey P. Bezos, was unchanged from the previous year.

Mr. Bezos, above, received a salary of $81,840 for 2007. His compensation also included $1.2 million for personal security and business travel -- the same amount as in 2006. He was not granted a bonus or awarded any stock or options. Amazon said Mr. Bezos, who founded the company and holds a 23.8 percent stake, has never received stock-based compensation. (AP) SEARS LOSES CREDIT PACTSears Holdings said on Friday that a credit agreement with Bank of America would come to an end after the bank would not agree to renew it under existing terms. Shares of Sears fell 3 percent in after-hours trading after it said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that the secured credit agreement would end in July.

Sears said the termination of the agreement, a 364-day secured facility for a commitment of up to $1 billion, was not expected to have any effect on its liquidity. A Bank of America representative did not immediately return a call seeking comment. (REUTERS)